Iseul had blood under her nails.

She fumbled with her fingers, burying them in the deep pockets of her pink hanbok. Serpent blood was always difficult to get out no matter how hard she scrubbed in the bath. Something was always left behind, a reminder of the hunt.

The palanquin bounced as Iseul glanced out the window. The mesh and curtains blocked most of the view, a precaution her mother, Empress Hyuna, insisted she always hold while traveling throughout Verna, but she was able to see little slivers of life from the slits as the box moved back and forth, the world a distorted half-glance of different lives. From the outside, no one could see inside; they were only able to see the delicate carvings of phoenixes in the wood. On the inside, the palanquin was lined with fine silks and cushions, the very best comfort items for the imperial princess on her coronation tour. Eight people carried the vehicle, the men hand-selected by the emperor himself to protect the beloved princess.

Princess, princess, princess.

It was just a pretty, overused word for an illusion.

Iseul took a deep breath, her heart pounding against her ribcage like a caged bird. She licked her lips, the soft taste of roses overtaking her tongue.

She wondered, as she looked out the slits in the mesh, if all these people gathering to watch her arrival, cheering and clapping and smiling, would feel the same about her if they knew the truth.

All these people going about their silly lives in simple, blissful ignorance had no idea what true dangers lurked behind every corner.

Iseul’s fingers itched for the dagger at her thigh but found only fabric.

The palanquin came to a sudden stop and was lowered to the ground. Iseul straightened her shoulders just as the door opened and light spilled into the palanquin, the sun strong against her eyes. She blinked to get used to the light and one of the guards held his hand out to her, a soft smile on his face. Iseul couldn’t remember his name, but he looked familiar, his hair tied back in a top-knot and his lips curled up into a smile. Maybe she’d seen him around the castle; if he was hand-picked by her father, he must have been trusted, and only the most trusted guards were allowed inside the walls.

Iseul offered him a smile and took his hand, letting him help her out of the palanquin. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that his ears were turning a bright red color and she had to force herself not to frown.

It would have been nice if, for once, someone didn’t get flustered every time Iseul gave him or her the smallest bit of attention. If this man knew that only hours before she’d been covered in the blood of monsters, Iseul knew he wouldn’t be holding onto her hand with such a tight grip.

"Welcome to the city of Daeshi, Your Highness," the guard said, his eyes looking everywhere but at Iseul. A group of five other guards followed closely behind, only two staying to watch over the palanquin, which had started to attract some attention from the citizens. "This city is mostly apartments and the occasional shop. Most of its residents work elsewhere, like the rice fields or the mines."

Iseul nodded along, but she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to the words leaving his mouth. She was looking around the small city instead, catching glimpses of shadows in windows, sheets, and other fabrics hanging from clothes lines above her head. Daeshi wasn't a multi-level city, not so densely populated, the buildings built more sparsely apart. She had never been to this city, having seen it only as a dot on a map of Verna she had to study and memorize as a part of her war strategy education. It wasn't a city that would be targeted by Hanin or outside forces, being located smack in the middle of Verna, surrounded by forest and main roads.

Children ran through the streets, chasing each other in a game of tag, and Iseul smiled. When she was that age, she was stuck in lessons, watching longingly from the windows as the servants' children got to play outside. An ache formed in her chest at the sight of them, at the knowledge that the world they lived in was so much worse than they knew. To them, the world was bright and colorful and fun, but Iseul knew what lurked just beyond the shadows.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Iseul caught a glimpse of a serpent slithering down the cobble-stoned road, just out of eyesight of the frolicking children.

"Your Highness, are you listening to me?"

Iseul blinked, forcefully pulled out of her reverie, her heart pounding hard in her chest as her fingers tangled, desperate for her dagger. The guard stepped into her field of view and she lost sight of the snake, fear gripping her heart.

She tried to look over his shoulders, but he was tall and all Iseul could see was the deep, shining blue of his uniform.

"Eh—? Oh, I'm sorry. What were you saying?" It took all of Iseul's strength not to push him out of the way and go after that snake, but her father's warning was clear in the back of her mind, as clear as the dozens of eyes watching her every move.

"Everyone will be watching you, Iseul. As the future empress of Verna, you must keep your pristine reputation. Do not disappoint me."

Iseul swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry.

"The people of the city have set up a welcome feast for you, Princess," the guard said. "It is a good opportunity for you to get to know the people."

"Yes," she breathed, fixing her light pink skirt and smiling at people in the street. They bowed back to her, whispering to each other from behind their hands when they thought Iseul couldn't see them anymore. "Let's go," she added, continuing her slow walk down the street.

People waved and shouted to her from their windows and she made sure to wave back, keeping that forced, fake smile on her face even when her cheeks began to ache. Children ran up to her in the street and gave her flowers. Elderly people offered her fruits and vegetables, jewels and silks, and even steamed meat from the shops they ran. And Iseul accepted every single one of them, thanking each person as she did. Secure their loyalty, she thought to herself when keeping up the smile became borderline unbearable. Ensure they adore the throne so there are no chances of rebellion.

Movement caught Iseul's eye. No one else saw the serpent as it crawled up the side of one of the buildings. No one ever saw the snakes that plagued these lands, but Iseul always did and they always led her to danger.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Iseul watched it from the corner of her eye, following it as it moved to a spot on one of the apartment windows. Behind the window, there was a shadow, one that ducked away in a flash of silver as soon as it noticed that Iseul was watching.

A chill crawled up the princess's spine.

Something was up there, in that apartment. Something evil.

Something that needed to be hunted.

The world around Iseul disappeared, her focus solely on that one window, the curtains blowing in the wind. Somewhere, she wasn't sure where, Iseul heard the soft hum of piano keys. She'd stopped walking and could feel everyone's eyes on her, could vaguely hear the guard speaking to her, though it sounded like she was listening to him from underwater, his words lost.

It wasn't until he reached out and put his hand on Iseul's shoulder that she was finally snapped back to reality and she moved away from the guard as if his touch burned her, the crowd that had gathered parting at her sudden movement.

"Princess—"

"Do not touch me," Iseul said, her words rendering the crowd silent as they looked at her with startled, almost frightened eyes.

The guard held up his hands. "I apologize, Your Highness, but I was only—"

"I need a moment," she announced, turning to the crowd. Some of the people towards the front stumbled back. She offered them a kind smile, which seemed to relax them. "I am so sorry to bother you all, but can anyone tell me where I can freshen up? I've had a very long journey here."

The guard was uncomfortably shifting his weight from one foot to the other, but Iseul ignored him as a young girl stepped out of the crowd. She was small, her hair pulled up in a tight knot. Her clothes were ratty and worn, thin against equally thin arms.

"I can show you to the washrooms, Your Highness," she said, her voice a squeak of nervousness. "I-It's a public washroom, but it should suffice."

"That's fine," Iseul said with a nod. Then she looked over her shoulder at the guard whose face was as red as a tomato, though this time she knew it wasn't from embarrassment. "I can go on my own from here."

Before the guard could utter a syllable, Iseul took a hold of the young girl's hand and asked her to lead the way.

—---

It took longer than Iseul thought it would to lose the girl. She had insisted on following Iseul into the washroom to show her how the taps worked, but she was able to lose her by climbing out the small window in the corner and finding herself in some kind of back alley face-to-face with a snake.

It lifted its head and stared at her, and Iseul stared back.

She wasn’t sure how long it’d been since she started seeing the snakes; maybe she’d seen them her entire life. But they’d always been there, watching her, leading her to her true calling: hunting monsters.

Iseul hiked her shirt up and unsheathed the dagger strapped to her thigh.

When she looked up, the fabric of her skirt falling back down to her ankles, the snake was already off, slithering through the dark street to show her the way to her next target.

She wasn’t sure what it was exactly that she saw in the window. All she had to go on was a feeling of unease, but that feeling was strong, sending tingles from her fingertips to her shoulders, an itch that needed to be scratched.

A monster that needed to be hunted.

Iseul followed the snake through the shadows until she reached a building she recognized and the serpent slithered away, disappearing into the darkness. This was it. The monster was in this building. All she needed was a few minutes. A quick, clean kill and she'd be back in the washroom, using womanly troubles as an excuse for why she took so long. As long as the girl didn't try to open the door in search of her, everything would be fine.

She found a trellis on the side of the building, one long forgotten and overgrown, covered in dead leaves and vines that crunched under her weight. Despite the state of it, the wood of the trellis was still strong, not quite rotted through enough to break under her weight and she managed to expertly climb it until she came across an open window and crawled through it.

The room Iseul found herself in was empty and covered in dust at least an inch thick. No one had lived here in a long time—maybe even years. The window must have always been left open to keep the room from getting too musty in case someone came to purchase it. The room itself was bare, filled only with a few pieces of furniture covered with thick fabric. One looked like a couch and another a desk—the very basic necessities. Iseul ignored it all, her one and only goal the monster that lived somewhere in this building.

She opened the door and looked left before she looked right, finding only a long, empty hallway dusted with cobwebs. Entire floors in this building must have been abandoned.

Something brushed against her ankle and Iseul let out a breath of relief when she saw another snake—a rattlesnake this time.

She was close. She could feel it.

Iseul followed the snake down empty hallways and up darkened staircases and she couldn't help but wonder if the entire building was abandoned.

She got her answer when the temperature dropped drastically, making her teeth chatter as goosebumps rose up along her skin.

Magic.

Iseul's throat went dry. This type of human hybrid was the most dangerous of all, even more so than the immortal Ghoulim, because those with magic running through their veins had no control over it. That was why they were executed as soon as they started showing signs of magic, usually when they were children. How one was able to slip through the cracks, living in this small sub-city was beyond Iseul. Her father was usually better at tracking these creatures. And yet one was here, fully grown with magic too big for this world.

She didn't have to look at the monster to know that it was too strong; she could feel it in the air, in the way the hair on her arms was standing up.

The rattlesnake hissed at her feet, the sound bringing her back to reality. Back to the mission at hand.

She had to get rid of this monster, for the sake of everyone.

After walking through what was beginning to feel like a maze of dusty hallways, the rattlesnake stopped in front of one of the doors, slipping under the crack as if it were made of shadows - and maybe it was.

It was colder here. Frost decorated the hinges of the door and Iseul could see her breath with each steady exhale. The monster was nervous; it knew she was here, and it was uneasy, cold electricity ringing through the air.

Swallowing the fear that rose up like a weed, Iaeul uses her dagger to chip away at the ice on the hinges. She was trying not to think about the fact that she had only ever read about magic in books and heard about those who wielded it from her father. She had never actually slain any, but it couldn't have been much different from the others. They all, more or less, took a human shape, and humans were so easy to kill.

Iseul made quick work of the hinges and turned her attention to picking the lock. The monster knew she was coming and likely heard her, but it had nowhere to run unless it wanted to be seen by the massive crowd waiting for their princess to come back from the washroom. Fear swelled up inside her chest again when she finally heard the soft click that told her she successfully picked the lock. Her hand grasped the cold knob and she froze, her heart hammering in her chest.

What if she couldn't kill it? She had been trained with the possibility of fighting a monster with magic, but she had never actually done it before. Simulations and practice battles could never compare to the real thing.

Doubt was like the serpents she saw around her, crawling up, up, up until wrapped itself around her throat and suffocated her.

No.

The voice in the back of her mind was loud and hot enough to melt the ice that felt as though it slithered its way into her bones. Gritting her teeth until her jaw ached, Iseul swallowed her fear and opened the door, slipping into the cold, dark apartment like the wraith she knew she was.